Turn a YouTube video without captions into text
If a video has no “Show transcript” option, it has no captions, and tools that copy captions return nothing. Paste the link here and the audio itself is transcribed into timestamped paragraphs. The first part is free without an account; the whole video is $5, one payment, for videos of up to 6 hours.
- Works when the video has no captions at all: the audio is transcribed
- Also when the captions stop partway or contain almost no words
- A timestamp at the start of every paragraph, from the start of the video
- Videos up to 6 hours for one payment of $5 (12 hours on Unlimited)
- Optional translation under every paragraph
NASA ScienceCasts: Two Sides of the Same Star
NASA Science · 3:43 · Creative Commons Attribution
Transcript
Real output from a Creative Commons video, shortened here. This video has captions by its creator, so they were used; a video without captions is transcribed from the audio. The Spanish lines are the tool’s translation.
Why some YouTube videos have no transcript
YouTube’s transcript panel shows the video’s captions; when there are none, there is no transcript to open. YouTube’s own help page on automatic captioning lists the usual reasons automatic captions are missing: the language is not supported, the video is too long, the sound quality is poor or not recognised as speech, the video starts with a long silence, or several people speak over each other. The creator can also turn captions off, and recent uploads and live stream recordings may not have them yet.
In all of these cases a caption tool has nothing to copy. The text has to come from the audio.
What this tool does instead
It downloads only the audio of the public video, splits it into parts of up to ten minutes and has an AI speech model write each part out in full, in the language spoken. Each paragraph gets its time from the start of the video, and the parts are joined in order. Unclear words are marked [inaudible] rather than guessed.
If a video does have captions, you can still choose “Always transcribe the audio” before you start, for example when the automatic captions are poor.
YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC. This tool is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google.
How the tool works, what it costs and how your files are handled is on the YouTube Transcript page; prices for every tool are on the pricing page.
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Questions and answers
Why does my video not have a “Show transcript” button?
Because it has no captions. Either the creator turned them off or YouTube did not create automatic captions, for example because of an unsupported language, poor audio, a long silence at the start or overlapping voices.
Can I still get a transcript?
Yes. Paste the link here and the audio is transcribed. The video has to be public or unlisted.
How long can the video be?
Up to 6 hours for one payment of $5, and up to 12 hours per video on Unlimited.
What is free?
The first part of the video, about a quarter and at most 10 minutes, on screen, without an account.